Everything Will Be Ok
by Gustave Daae Y
Summary: Gravity Falls is a weirdness magnet. Anyone who has been attracted to the quiet town is there for a reason and is not meant to leave. Dipper and Mabel were attracted to the town and defied fate by leaving. After a devastating fire, the twins are back in Gravity Falls and it is darker and deadlier than before, but this is where the Pine's belong: you can't escape destiny.
1. Prologue: The Fire

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Prologue**

 **The Fire**

It was 3:00 in the morning when Dipper woke up. He found it strange that he had woken up at this time **.** Dipper was known for 2 things when it came to sleep: staying up late and sleeping even later. These did not seem to match well with Mabel's sleep schedule which was: rise and fall with the sun. He wondered what could have caused his sudden desire to wake up early: maybe it was back to school nerves. Tomorrow would be September 3, the first day of school. Well technically, it was already September 3. I just 3 hours dipper would be woken up by Mabel jumping on his bed until he couldn't stand it anymore and then they would head off to school together. But he had never woken up before do to back to school nerves. Heck, he had fought a freakin' dream demon this summer, something as easy as school shouldn't be worrying him. No. Him waking up probably had to do more with the unbearable heat in the house.

They're parents must have accidently left the heater on…again.

Dipper decided to go down the hall to the bathroom even though his first instincts told him to go back to sleep. But when he opened the door, he was meant with heavy, thick black smoke.

His goggled, early morning mind took him a little while to determine what this meant. His heart beat hastened when he saw the orange flames creep up the stairs that were down the hall.

He was now truly awake now, realizing the situation that he was in was anything but good. He slammed the door shut and tried to collect his thoughts. His mind instantly went to Mabel and was about to open the door to rescue her but his rational side stopped him. This could probably be the last time he was in his room. He grabbed all the things that he was attached too, including Wendy's hat and threw them into his adventure backpack. He threw open the door to his room, back pack on, and bolted down the hall to Mabel's room. He struggled with the handle of the door, finding the metal hot, but safely made it into the room. He slammed the door with a bang and made no hesitation about throwing himself onto Mabel's bed, shaking her awake.

"Dipper…" she groaned, sleepily, into her pillows, "It's still dark outside. You can tell me about what ever weird fan fic you read tomorrow when the sun is up."

"Mabel! This has nothing to do with that!" he yelled shaking her arms, "You don't get it! There's a fire down stairs! We need to get out of here now!"

"What?!" she bolted up and sprung out of bed, causing Dipper to be thrown onto the floor.

Mabel was about to open the door when Dipper rushed to her side to stop her.

"You can't open the door!" he said grabbing her arms, preventing her from opening the door, "You'll let in more smoke. Just quickly grab everything important to you and then we have to go."

Mabel did as she was told, grabbing a couple of sweaters, her scrape book and some of her stuffed animals and cramming them into her 'Party bag' and slugging it over her back. She then grabbed her pet pig, waddles and tucked him under her arm.

Dipper grabbed a few sweaters from off of her floor and gave Mabel some good advice.

"Cover your mouth and nose with this." He threw the sweater at her and demonstrated for her, "It'll protect you from the smoke."

Mabel not only covered her own mouth and nose, but Waddles' as well.

Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and held on as if for dear life. He bent his back a bit, with Mabel following his example and then threw open the door.

As the Pines twins rushed through the smoke filled hall way of the second floor, their feet burning and being pierced by the splintering wood of the seared floor, Dipper noticed the smoke had gotten much thicker. The fire had gotten worse. They wheezed and coughed heavily as they rushed down the stairs into their family room that resembled a living, burning furnace. They pushed through the room, trying not to burn their feet, but ultimately failing.

Dipper glanced down the hall to their parent's bedroom and was about to drag through the fire in hopes to see their room empty, but a voice in his head stopped him.

"'They'll be fine.'" The voice in his head rationalized, "'but look at your sister, she might not be.'"

He glanced back at his sister, his best friend. He watched for a brief moment as she struggled to breathe, gasping like a fish out of water, her skin dosed in countless burns.

"'You have to get her out of here, no matter what the costs are.'"

His conscience was right. He pulled Mabel through the burning room, getting several more splinters and burns on their feet in the process.

With an immense amount of luck, the twins made it to the door. Dipper grabbed the metal door knob but instantly retreated away from it. It was boiling hot and he could see that it had left a disgusting mark on his hand: boils and blisters were already forming from the brief contact. He was about to find another way out of the house until he saw Mabel. She was coughing and heaving as if she was having an asthma attack…he couldn't waste time. he let go of Mabel's hand and forced himself to touch the scolding surface of the door knob with both hands, prying the door open to their freedom.

Dipper pushed Mabel outside, making sure she got out side of the inferno and then followed after her into the street.

Together, they ran as far away from the house as they could with their scolded feet. They were surprised to find that the neighbors from there street were outside of their house, far enough to not get hurt but close enough to watch the horror. A few of them rushed towards the fallen twins.

"Oh thank goodness you two are alright."

"We called 911, they should be here soon."

"Everything will be ok."

The last line stuck in Dipper's mind for the remainder of the evening. As he comforted the crying Mabel as hid herself in sweater town, he said the line to himself over and over again.

"Everything will be ok…everything will be ok…everything will be ok."

…

Everything was not ok.

For the last few hours, the twins were transported from place to place, finding out one set of terrible news to the next.

First, the twins were brought to the hospital. The numerous burns and splinters on the twins bodies had to be looked at. The splinters were removed and the burns were looked at. The burns weren't as bad as they felt, most just first degree. Their breathing was tested as well. The doctors told them that it was wise of them to cover their mouths and noses from the smoke and it had probably saved their lives and/or saved them from future hospital visits. The worst burns were that of Dippers hands, having touched several burning surfaces and then a hot metal door knob. His hands would have to be in bandaged for at least the next two weeks.

After that, the twins were taken to the police station to be questioned about the fire. The police inspector asked the twins if there was anyone that would want to cause harm to them or their family. Mabel began talking about Bill, an evil Dorito that hated their family but dipper elbowed her in the arm. The police shouldn't have to deal with a dream demon along with speeding tickets. Besides, Bill was gone.

Finally, they ended up at child services where the worst news was given: the fire fighters had found their parents…dead.

The twins went ballistic. Mabel burst into tears and cried into Dipper's shoulder. Dipper was in shock. How could this have happened? They had been in life threatening situations all summer, how did a simple fire kill 2 members of the Pines family? It was the worst feeling they had ever felt.

And it would just get worse.

"I am so sorry, kids. It's terrible to lose your parents." The child service agent said, pitiless. "But I promise you, everything will be ok. Now is there any family that we can call?"

Dipper instantly gave the agent Grunkle Stan's phone number. Dipper hoped his Grunkle would be awake. The incident had happened over 14 hours ago, but it was still fresh in the twin's minds.

The agent took the phone call in the other room, leaving Dipper, Mabel and Waddles alone.

"Dipper…" Mabel asked through tears, "…What's gonna happen to us?..."

"I…I…I don't know." Dipper admitted defeat for the first time in his life. "I don't know."


	2. Home is where the D-day devices are

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Denial**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Home is Where the D-day Devices Are**

It had been a long plane ride for the Pines twins. Mabel was at the window seat, pointing at each fluffy white cloud and calling each on a different made-up animal including, but not limited to: the Manicorn ( a male centaur with a horn on its head), the wall-ephant (an elephant made out of cement blocks) and a dogdrant (a dog fire-hydrant). She somehow was able to think of all these animals all while knitting a navy blue sweater with silver stars embedded on it, which she was almost done with, by the looks of it. Dipper was in the middle of the 3 seats, trying his hardest to read whatever book was in his hand but his mind was so unfocused that when he finally snapped out of it he found himself halfway through the book but having no idea what the main character's name was. The two twins were being escorted to Gravity Falls, Oregon by some child services agent that hadn't even bothered to give the twins his name. The agent look extremely bored. He must have escorted so many orphaned kids to new homes that it wasn't even bearable anymore, Dipper thought bitterly.

Dipper hated the worker with a passion. He was uncaring but in the worst possible way. Wendy was uncaring and passive but she was also cool and kind and confidant. This worker was uncaring as in 'I don't care where these kids go, just get them to what ever crazy relative they have, sign the paper work and then you never have to see them again' kind of uncaring. Mabel tried to befriend him, just like she does with every person she meets. It didn't work out to well. She asked him what his favorite color was and he said to be quiet. She tried to squeeze pass him to use the restroom and he told her to get back into her chair. At one point, Mabel's uncontrollable mess that was supposed to be a yarn ball ended up on his lap. He then yanked the yarn and sweater out of her hands and didn't give it back until the plane was beginning to land.

The plane landed. The agent refused to move until the rest of the passengers were off, to much annoyance to the twins because they were only in the third row and could have quickly made it off. He then told Mabel and Dipper to get there bags from the upper compartment, without helping them, and then they were off of the plane.

The twins were a little ways away from the agent at the baggage claim terminal. The agent had taken out his phone and was talking to someone on the other end about how terrible his job was.

"Yeah, I'm at the airport waiting for these kids to get their luggage." He said as if the twins weren't present, "Don't ask me how the flight was. An hour delay, over 2 hours late to our destination… Oh the kid? Well they're two of them… Yeah, two of them!...Misbehaved the whole time too. The girl is nuts, man… Of course I'm not going to get paid extra."

"He's talking about us," Dipper whispered to Mabel, barely audible above the hum of the now rotating platform of the baggage claim.

"Don't take it too hard. Maybe he's having a rough week." Mabel said, trying to keep a positive attitude. "Maybe his girlfriend broke up with him or he's living in his mom's basement or something?"

"Poor him, his life must be terrible." Dipper said, under his breath, bitterly.

Mabel soon found her hot pink suitcase that was covered in stickers and glitter. Dipper's dark blue suitcase was a bit harder to find. Once they had their suitcases, they headed over to the pet pick-up station to pick up Waddles. The airplane usually didn't carry "live-stock" but after a quick call to whoever is in charge of those things, Waddles was on board. Mabel took Waddles out of the crate he was in and hugged him tight.

"Ah, Waddles, did you miss me on the plane ride?" Mabel asked as Waddles licked her face.

"Oink!" the pig squealed back, almost as a yes.

"I missed you too." Mabel smiled hard and snuggled into her pig.

"Filthy creature." The agent said and Dipper couldn't decide if he was talking about the pig or his sister.

The twins, the agent and Waddles, tucked under Mabel's arms, walked outside of the airport terminal to where they were supposed to meet Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford. When Dipper and Mabel saw their grunkles, they dropped their suitcases and ran towards them.

"Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!" the twins called, racing towards them.

"Mabel! Dipper!" the old men ran towards the kids, once hearing their names called.

The Pines met somewhere in the middle. Stan and Ford hugged the twins both at the same time, but from opposite sides. It was a bitter sweet moment. But it was ruined almost as quickly as it was started.

"Excuse me, sirs," the agent tapped on Stan's back, "I need to see your ID's and sign the required paper work."

The classic pines twins let the kids go to fill out the 84 pages of paper work they both had to sign. It took almost a life time, but eventually they were allowed to leave. Stan grabbed Mabel's suitcase, Ford grabbed Dipper's and they walked out into the airport parking lot.

"Man that agent was awful, gotta love the government." Stan said as he lifted Mabel's suitcase into the trunk of his old red car, "Had to admit, I was a bit worried about all that paper work I had to sign. One of the questions was 'have you ever been to jail?'. Good thing I was Steve Pinesfield when that happened."

"Stan, is this a parking space?" Dipper asked, noticing that half of the car was on the sidewalk and the other have in a 'danger: do not cross' zone.

"Is now."

"I told you that I should have driven here." Ford said, as he slid into the passenger's seat.

"There is no way that you are driving my car. The Stanley Mobile is only driven by Stanley."

The twins buckled up their seat belts, hastily, and the car took off.

"Stan! Slow down!" Ford said, "At least try to behave until we reach Gravity Falls!"

"It's fine. Mabel seems to like it."

Mabel was, sure enough, enjoying bouncing around in the back seat. Dipper was a bit more with Ford on this one.

Soon the Pines were out of the city and headed into the Oregon forest. Most of the car ride was silent. Stan and Ford didn't know how to handle the situation. These children had just lost their parents, what were they supposed to do?

"I think you two should be aware of what's going to happen to you two once we get…home." Ford stated, hesitating on the last word.

"Sounds good, poindexter." Stan started, as they traveled through the thick trees of the so familiar forest, "Ford got a job as a professor at the Gravity Falls University of Science Nerds and he will be starting work in October. I will be mentoring Soos on how to run the Mystery Shack until next summer.

"Stan and I have postponed our trip until next summer due to the…circumstances…" Ford was careful about how to say that they had canceled there life-long dream of sailing around the world in a boat in order to take care of Dipper and Mabel. "You two will be joining us on our journey next summer, as soon as school is out."

"I was all for just taking you with us during the school year," Stan said, "But Mr. Educationisimportant over here thought you two needed to be schooled here and not on a boat."

"They need an education, Stanley." Ford said, firmly, "There is no arguing that."

"For the time being," Stan continued, ignoring his brother, "We will be staying at the Mystery Shack. As soon as Soos is trained we will probably move to another house. Soos isn't here at the moment: he's visiting Portland for a few weeks. He'll be back eventually.

"You kids will be ok. Everything will be ok. I promise." Ford said, trying to comfort the kids, "I know we could never replace your parents, but we will try our hardest to be good role models…well…at least I'll try."

"You can be the responsible parent," Stan said, pointing at his brother, "And I'll be that crazy uncle you gossip about during dinner."

Mabel and Dipper chuckled at their grunkles behavior. With a little bit of luck, child services would never find out about the past criminal records or d-day devices in the basement. Dipper knew that he had called Gravity Falls home once: it wouldn't be too hard to call it home once again.

After a few more hours of driving, and a few thousand jokes from Stan's terrible joke book, the car reached the sleepy town of Gravity Falls. It was 7:30 and the town was busy; most of the town was there to greet the twins as they came back. Some were even holding signs that welcomed them back.

The car pulled up to the mystery shack. It looked so ominous against the darkened sky and blackened forest. It was like a creepy cabin that you would find in horror movies. It was just like how they remembered it, right down to Mabel's favorite moldy spots on the ceiling.

Dipper and Mabel had a race to the attic that would, once again, be there temporary living space. Stan and Ford brought up their stuff from the car and left them alone to unpack.

"We're going to Greasy's Diner for dinner tonight," Stan said as he was leaving the room. "We're leaving in half an hour. You two get settled back in."

The twins unpacked their clothes and other objects rather quickly. A lot of it had been destroyed in the fire so there wasn't much to unpack. Mabel began to knit her navy blue sweater and Dipper went to the bathroom. He had to change the gauze on his hands. As he unwrapped his hands, what Mabel called his mummy hands, he once again saw his burned and blackened hands. They seemed to be getting worse: the flesh was cracking and chipping in the nastiest of ways. He hoped that they wouldn't get infected. It made him sick in the stomach to look at the deformed mess that was his hands. He hadn't told Mabel his worries about his hands: he didn't want to worry her. He had to keep the situation as stress-free as possible. For Mabel. His hands didn't hurt anyways.

When he left the room, his hands now freshly bandaged, he was surprised to see Mabel smiling at him with that goofy smile of hers.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

"Nope! I just got you something!"

Mabel held up the now finished navy blue sweater. It had the words 'Big Dipper' stitched onto it and the entire thing imbedded with silver stars.

"Mabel, that's really sweet but…"

"I hope you like it. I was working on it back home before…" her face darkened slightly before she quickly returned to her braces filled colorful smile, "But anyways! It turned out great!"

Dipper didn't really have a choice anymore. He couldn't break her heart by not wearing it; she had made it just for him. He slipped off his vest and put on the sweater. It was surprisingly warm and comfy, not itchy as he expected it to be. He could see why Mabel liked sweaters so much: it was like taking a hug everywhere you go.

"Kids!" Stan called from downstairs, "Time to go!"

"Coming Stan!" Mabel called back.

Mabel grabbed Dipper's sweater sleeve and pulled him out of the door and down stairs in a hastened run. Dipper was panting at the bottom of the stairs where Stan and Ford were waiting.

"Nice change of style, kid." Stan said, followed by a grunt because Ford had elbowed him in the stomach.

"Come on kids, I haven't been to greasy's diner in over 30 years. I hope they're cooking has improved."

"It hasn't," Stan whispered to the kids, "But pretend that it's your favorite thing in the world: it will drive him crazy."

The twins couldn't help but laugh.

Greasy's diner hadn't changed from both Ford's and the kid's point of view. Same décor, same waitresses and the same questionable food.

"Order anything you want kids!" Stan said as they all slid into a booth. "Grunkle Ford's paying!"

Ford rolled his eyes and slid next to Dipper while Stan sat beside Mabel.

"But kids, feel free to order what ever you want." Ford said, ruffling Dipper's fur hat affectionately. "The government recently gave me a boat load of money for my invention of 'the truth detector' machine. I rebuilt the mind reader I used on Dipper to protect his mind from Bill and sold it for a number that's impossible to count to."

"How do you think we afforded the Stan-o-war 2?"

"If you are rich, then why did Ford get a job at a university?" Dipper asked.

"I love learning and teaching. And it would be nice to have a steady flow of income." Ford shrugged. "I don't think a machine that I have put together and sold should provide for my entire life. Doesn't seem right to me. But Mabel, you have to order actual dinner first and THEN you can order dessert."

"Ahh! Why?!"

"That's my girl." Stan ruffled Mabel's hair affectionately.

Ford and Dipper chuckled at their siblings' behavior.

True to his word, Ford allowed the kids to order anything they wanted…even if he didn't really approve. Soon the table was covered in endless plates of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, chicken tenders, pit cola, French fries, burgers and bizarrely shaped tacos. The younger twins just kept eating, having started their growth spurt and hadn't eaten all day. Stan was doing a great job at keeping up with them though. Ford, on the other hand, just ate his chicken salad, hesitantly, still not truly trusting whatever came out of that kitchen.

"Whoa, slow down Dipper, you don't want to choke." A new voice said.

"Wendy!" Dipper said, his mouth still full of chicken. He quickly swallowed before continuing to talk. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking up some chicken for my family." Wendy said holding up the bag of take out. "I don't feel like making diner tonight. The real question is, what are you guys doing back here? I thought you guys were staying in California till next summer? Did your parents change their minds or something?"

The Pine's faces turned dark. Stan and Ford had told most everyone in the town the story of the younger twins parents, but somehow forgot to tell Wendy.

"What?" Wendy said in innocent confusion.

"Um…Wendy…their parents…" Stan said, trying to find the right words. "…they're gone…fire…Dipper and Mabel are going to be staying with us now."

"Oh…dudes…" Wendy looked shocked and mournful. "I am so sorry for you two. But I know how you feel. I went through the same thing when my mom died."

"Really?" Dipper had never met Wendy's mom but he had never considered that she could have been dead.

"Yeah really. Things will get better."

Wendy's phone went off so she quickly checked it.

"Argh, my family is getting angsty. I gotta go. Don't worry dudes. Everything will be ok."

She left.

The Pines sat in silence for the rest of the evening. Until dessert came. They had all ordered sundaes and when ever Mabel gets sugar, this get crazy. By the time they were in the car to head home, sprinkles were in Dipper's hair, whip cream was stuck under Stan's glasses and all 12 of Fords fingers were sticky due to ice-cream being all over them. But, despite their injuries of the great sugar war of 2012, they were all laughing. It was just like old times.

Once they were back at the mystery shack, they did what they did throughout all of the summer: sprawled out on the floor, junk food not too far away from the reach of everyone's hands and some old movie that they wouldn't remember watching the next day. They all enjoyed their time together and things almost felt normal.

Dipper tried to convince himself that he was having fun and that he was happy. But all of his laughs and smiles felt fake to him.


	3. Mabel goes goth

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Denial**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Mabel Goes Goth**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you to those who favorited this story and to those who reviewed it. This story is actually came to me in a dream, but hopefully it's better than the twilight saga because that also came to 'what's her face in a dream'. It's rather amazing really: my dream spanned over a month and each night was a different chapter and in chronological order. Every morning, right before I went to school, I wrote down exactly what happened in the dream that previous night so I wouldn't forget it. One day, me and my friend got bored so she told me to tell her a story, which was this one. She's the one that actually told me to post it so you have her to thank if you like it or if you hate it. ;) Everything is planned out and is building towards something so it's not going to be a fan fic that is just half-baked or something, hopefully.**

 **On ships of this fan fic: there really isn't any. I want to stay true to the show and only give slight hints on what characters could be shipped together and should be shipped together. Romance does play a part in this story though, just not in the way you think.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy and I will try to take your advice if you guys give it to me.**

School started on Monday and Mabel was excited to a point that was beyond words. It was the Saturday before school started and the Pines family had decided to travel to 'Gravity Malls' to go back-to-school shopping. Mabel knew that this school year was going to be great. She was going into 8th grade, practically a queen compared to the other 6th and 7th graders. She had already made a list of things that she was determined to do this year: become class president, start a fashion club at the school and be crowned Valentine's Day queen at the Valentine's Day dance which was the equivalent of prom queen for middle schoolers. Shopping today was of upmost importance. As much as she didn't want to admit it, people tended to like the people who were fun and pretty. She already had the 'fun' part checked off on that requirements list, and today she would check off the 'pretty' requirement because today she would be shopping in the junior section and not in the kid's section.

The guys in the car were less enthusiastic for the trip. Dipper had always hated shopping and tended to just pick the same type of clothes on each trip quickly and then just go off to GameStart or a book story or something and spend the money there. Mabel had a feeling today would be no different on the whole shopping experience for her brother. Stan and Ford were even less enthusiastic shown by there argument on who would accompany Mabel into the girls section.

"There is no way that I am going anywhere near anything to do with 'accent colors' or 'peplums' or whatever those are." Stan said, "Besides, if I get caught in the girls section again I will be arrested again. You go with her, you're a respectable adult."

"I can't go with her either, Stanley." Ford said, flustered, "Have you seen the clothes people wear nowadays? I leave town for a couple of decades and everyone changes everything. And what will the town say when the new guy in town is in a girls store?"

The argument went right up to the point where they were inside the mall. At that point, Stan grabbed hold of Dipper's arm, threw a smoke bomb and ran away as fast as he could while shouting "Not today!" at the top of his lungs.

"Well…I guess you're stuck with me." Ford told Mabel. "So…where do you want to go?"

Mabel gave him her signature crazy smile before sprinting off in the direction of the part of the mall she had always wanted to shop in with Ford trying his hardest to stay behind her.

"Mabel! Wait up!"

Ford finally caught up to Mabel who was standing in front of a large, brightly lit store.

"Eternally 22?" Ford questioned, "Do you usually shop here?"

"Nope!" Mabel said as she pushed Ford into the store from behind.

Ford wasn't sure what made him the most uncomfortable about the situation he was in: being surrounded by a bunch of tight and revealing hot pink and black clothing, being surrounded by girls wearing a bunch of tight and revealing hot pink and black clothing or having to watch Mabel try on a bunch of tight and revealing hot pink and black clothing. He couldn't help but be concerned when Mabel came out to show him a more mature shirt that she was trying on. The shirt, or top as Mabel called it, in question had a fitted waist that flared out and a neckline that he thought to be too revealing for a 13 year old girl to wear. Plus it was black, so opposite of Mabel's style.

"What do you think?" Mabel spun around, believing herself so mature and beautiful in the black top.

Ford tried to handle the situation to the best of his ability. He had survived monster battles and the apocalypse: he could surely handle dealing with his great-nieces fashion choices.

"I think that you should try on something else, sweetie." He added the affectionate name in hopes to not anger her. "It's too revealing for you and it's a bit too dark for you."

They stayed in the store for about another 30 minutes but they ran into similar problems. Everything was either too short, too tight, too mature or too dark. They ended up leaving the store empty handed.

"Why don't we try where you usually shop?" Ford asked.

Mabel nodded and headed off to a name brand department store.

Mabel had to admit that she was having a much better time at the department store. She still gave the juniors section a try and found that it was much easy to shop here. She found a lot of bright t-shirts, skirts and leggings that both Ford and Mabel liked. At one point she wondered off into the jewelry section of the store and found a few pairs of shooting star earrings that she just had to have. There was only one problem…

"Hey Grunkle Ford! Can I get my ears pierced?"

"Um…your ears what now?" Ford had heard the word 'pierced' in that sentence and he also knew that the definition of that word was one that a little girl should be wanting.

"My ears pierced! See, look at those girls."

Mabel pointed to a small group of girls walking by who had long, dangly earrings on.

"Isn't that a goth thing?"

"Only when guys do it. When girls do it its pretty! Please Grunkle Ford?"

Mabel gave him a look that he couldn't resist. She was just so cute that he couldn't say no to her.

"Sure, why not? But if your brother asks me that question I'm saying no."

"Yeah!" Mabel shouted as she pointed at Ford. "This guy! Right here! He's amazing!"

"Hush Mabel," Ford said laughing, and blushing a bit at the same time, "People are staring."

Ford purchased the clothes and Mabel's new earring collection and they two of them left with more bags than anticipated. But Ford didn't mind. Mabel deserved to be spoiled every now and then.

"So where do you even get your ears pierced?"

Mabel led him to the one place she knew would have a person who could pierce her ears: Edgy on Purpose. Once again, Ford was uncomfortable all reason.

"Hi! I'm Mabel!" Mabel told the person of questionable gender at the counter of the story. "I want my ears pierced!"

"Sure." Ford defined the goth…or was it punk?...as a female based on her voice.

The black clad woman pulled out an object that closely resembled the blaster gun in Ford's coat pocket. Ford was tempted to reach for his own gun but then he realized that that probably wouldn't be the best thing to do in a mall full of cops and people with cameras on their phones.

The lady behind the counter then took out a box full of small earrings.

"Pick one kid," she said monotone.

"Can I use these?" Mabel pulled out a pair of shooting star earrings.

"Sorry, kid, but I have to use these or the metal won't go through your skin or your ear will get infected or something awesome like that. Just pick a pair."

"Ahh…" Mabel exclaimed a bit disappointed but almost instantly was replaced with a smile. "I choose…those!"

Mabel pointed at the only pair of pink earrings in the midst of a bunch of black. Of course. That's the Mabel Ford knew and loved.

"Ok kid." The goth girl said as she loaded the gun like object with the front half of the earring and holding the back in her other hand. "Hold still and don't scream."

Ford watched as the goth girl held Mabel's right ear and point the gun straight at it. He heard Mabel stifle a scream. The process repeated once more for her other ear.

"How do I look, Ford?" Mabel said, admiring the pink studs in her ears.

"You look great Mabel."

"You paying." The goth asked Ford, at least, he thought it was a question.

"Yes. How much?"

"20 bucks."

Ford handed her the money and rushed to find Mabel who had wandered off to try on some of the clothes in this store. The last thing he wanted was Mabel wearing black again.

"Come on," Ford said, taking Mabel's hand, "let's go find our brothers."

The walked over to the boy section of the department store to find Dipper and Stan having a similar but entirely different problem.

"I'm not having you go to school looking like some nerd from the 90's kid." Stan shouted into the dressing room that Dipper was in.

"I don't look nerdy! It's called a polo shirt!"

"Get a load of this kid. He gets it from you, you know." Stan elbowed Ford in his stomach.

"Hi Grunkle Stan! Look!" she pointed to her ears. "Ford let me get my ears pierced!"

"Nice kiddo. You're not gonna turn into one of those goth people right?"

"Ford asked me the same question. Am I really that dark?"

"Dark as the sun, sunshine." Stan ruffled her hair, affectionately.

"You got your ears pierced!" Dipper shouted, his puberty voice cracking on the last word, "You weren't supposed to get those till high school!"

"Well, Ford said that I could."

"Don't turn rebellious and goth on me!"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Come on out bro bro!"

After a few moments, Dipper came out of the dressing room wearing a white and blue striped 'polo shirt' and a pair of dark blue jeans.

"Aww! Dipper! You look so adorable!"

"Mabel," Dipper hid back behind the dress room door. "Nice earrings though,"

"Thanks bro bro."

Dipper changed back into his normal clothes, which took longer than expected, and then the four of them went to the food court. Once again, junk food overload. After that, the Pines family got into the car and headed home. They spent the rest of the day cramming the most out of the day, making every last moment last.

Mabel laid on her bed that night, finding it hard to sleep. She kept tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable place to sleep. It was strange to her. She had never had any problems sleeping in the attic's bed during the summer. She turned to look at Dipper, who was sleeping soundly. It seemed a bit odd to her. Normally Dipper was the one who had trouble sleeping at night while she slept soundly.

Probably nothing to worry about.


	4. Dipper Falls in Love with a Nerd Girl

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Denial**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Dipper Falls in Love with a Nerd Girl**

Dipper was woken up as he usually was on the first day of school.

"Dipperdipperdipperdipper!" Mabel said as she bounced on his bed, directly on top of his face. "Get up Get up get up! It's the first day of school!"

"Five more minutes…" Dipper grumbled into his pillow.

"Come on! Or else I'm using my secret weapon!"

"…grrrhmmm…" Dipper mumbled into his pillow.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Mabel dug her hands into Dipper's underarms and began tickling him viciously.

"No Mabel! Hahahahah… Stop it hahahaha…" Dipper tried to tell her as he attempted to squirm out of his sisters tickling hands.

"Not until you're up!" Mabel said, laughing just as much as Dipper.

Dipper put up a good fight. He held out through his sister's torture practices as long as he could but eventually his squirming led to the two of them falling off of the bed with a thud. The twins laughed at their situation even though they both knew that they had bruised something on the way down.

"Ok Mabel, I'm up now." Dipper said, picking himself up and then offering his hand to Mabel to help her off the floor.

"Good. Now let's go start the day!"

The pines twins then chanted 'First day of school! First day of school!' on their way downstairs. The twins, still in their PJ's, sat down at the dining room table, right beside Stan.

"Mornin'."

"Good morning Stan!" Mabel said. "Morning Ford."

"Good morning kids," Ford called from the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

"I had a dream last night where cats could talk." Mabel said, matter-a-factly.

"Weird." Dipper said, messing around with the bandages on his hands.

"I had a dream last night that the US was secretly monitoring the people who buy donuts every Saturday believing that there was a secret donut cult or something." Stan said, not looking up from his newspaper.

Ford came out with the plates of food he had prepared. Pancakes (not Stan-cakes thankfully), turkey bacon (Mabel refused to eat anything made with pork for obvious reasons) and over-easy eggs with parsley on top. Mabel and Stan dug in, piling mounds of pancakes onto their plates. Ford had one of everything, still big on the 'health' thing. However, Dipper didn't feel up to eating so much so he just ate one egg before declaring that he was going to go upstairs to take a shower and get ready for school.

Dipper took a longer shower than usual. The water felt amazing against his hands, which looked horrid. The skin on his hands was starting to peel and flake off revealing his raw flesh underneath the distorted skin. Just looking at it made Dipper want to throw up what little breakfast he had just eaten. He quickly got dressed into his new blue and white striped polo shirt, the sweater Mabel had given him and jeans and then rewrapped the gauze around his hands. It was a close call. Dipper had barely finished wrapping his hands when Mabel walked into the bathroom, pink and clothes skirt in hand, in order to take a shower.

They had an hour to kill before school started. Dipper spent it repacking his backpack so that everything was color-coordinated and making sure his heavy books were right against his back in order to not have back problems in the future. Mabel was taking her sweet time in the bathroom, singing in the shower no less, so Dipper decided to pack her things into her multicolored messenger bag in the same fashion of his own.

While he was packing Mabel's bag, Ford came upstairs.

"Dipper," Ford called for his attention from his project, "Um...since school starts today well...I wanted to start a new tradition."

Ford held up two wrapped packages: one was blue and the other was pink.

"Presents?" Mabel said, elated as she come out of the bathroom across from the room.

Mabel looked stunning. Her long brunette hair was pulled into a side braid with pink head band with a pink bow off to the side. She wore a long sleeved purple shirt under a pink floral pattern sundress with thin straps. She wore a pair of dark blue leggings and purple high tops. To describe her in one word: she was colorful.

"You look wonderful, Mabel." Ford said, proudly as if he was her father.

"Thank you." Mabel twirled, her floral dress fanning out.

"As I was saying, I've decided I wanted to start a new tradition with our...family." Ford tried to find the correct word on what to call themselves. "So I got you these."

Ford handed the twins there correctly colored packages. Mabel tore away at the paper while Dipper carefully unwrapped his.

"A journal," Dipper said admiring the light blue book with silver caps on its edges and a pine tree symbol on it.

"A dairy!" Mabel yelled instantly loving her bright pink book with golden caps on the edges and a shooting star symbol.

"You can write anything you wish in these." Ford stated, "Writing in a journal helps you always remember things you don't want to forget. Mostly just to keep track of your adventures and anything you want to get with you."

"Thank you Grunkle Ford!" Mabel said, hugging him around the middle.

"Thank you." Dipper said.

"You're welcome. You two better finish getting ready. We're leaving in just a few minutes."

Within a few minutes, Dipper and Mabel got into the back seat of Stan's car and the four of them headed off to the middle school. The drive was a bit longer than the drive the twins were used to taking. Where they grew up it was only a few minutes to get to their school because they lived in a very developed area. In Gravity Falls, everything was a bit more spread out so the ride took about 20 minutes. They pulled up to the school and the four of them got out.

The middle school was an outdoor school. The buildings were surrounded by plant life and Dipper could see a large field that connected to a forest that surrounded the area like an evergreen blanket. The school had this sense of natural beauty about it. The school colors were blue and green, the buildings were light brown with dark green roofs with ivy covering it, and the grass was covered with a few of the already brown and orange leaves of the autumn trees. Autumn. It just clicked in Dipper's mind that it was now Fall. Summer was over, school was beginning, the future was coming: it all seemed so unreal. As if it wasn't happening at all. Dipper felt like he would wake up at any moment and be back in Bill's Fear-amid, pleading for his life and trying to make it to the days end. But he was safe, heading off to start the first day of school with a new life and a new purpose. Nothing normal ever happened in his life. This almost seemed strange, things being normal in Gravity Falls. Normal seemed strange.

This silent conversation within his mind continued as they went into the office. Dipper and Mabel were introduced to the principal as new students. New students were a rarity in this town. No one ever lived here unless they were born here, or in the Pines' case, moved here by an unfortunate set of circumstances.

The Principal, Ms. Poppyfield, greeted the two younger twins with a sense of hippie love. Well, she was a hippie. Her room was decorated with dream catches, her window was wide open which allowed birds ( and the occasional eye-ball bat) to come in and out as they pleased and there was no technology what so ever in the room. Her outfit was a large green shawl over a brown t-shirt and a pair of light brown bell-bottoms. She had a youthful face and appeared to be in her 20's. Her long brown hair had a headband made out of pink flowers and various other plants stuck in her hair as well.

"Hello children." She said, smiling as if she was on something, "I'm Ms. Poppyfield but just call me Poppy. And you must be their...Grandpa's?"

"Great Uncles." Ford said, formally, feeling a bit uncomfortable with her lack of formality, "My name is Stanford Pines and this is my brother Stanley Pines. I was told by the assistant to come in with the two kids on the first day do to 'special circumstances'."

"Oh yes, the famous Pines family." Poppy went over to her wooden desk in her office and pulled out a pile of papers. "Oh yes, here are the children's transcripts. It appears that Mason is the reason for this meeting this morning. Have a seat."

The four of them sat on the bean bag chairs in front of the low desk. Dipper could tell that Ford was not enjoying this, but Mabel seemed to be enjoying herself.

"It appears that Mason…"

"Dipper." Dipper interrupted.

"Dipper," Poppy corrected herself with a smile, "is ahead in a lot of his classes. While most won't be a problem because we offer higher level English and history classes here, we do not however have the staff to teach such advanced science and math classes."

"So what does that mean?" Stan asked as he picked at a scab on his hand.

"Well dipper has two options." Poppy said, smiling kindly. "He could either take the classes from the previous year again this year or take a few classes at the high school."

High school level classes in the 8th grade. Dipper thought it was a dream.

"The classes would be Algebra 2 and Chemistry. If you were anybody else I would recommend retaking the previous classes but your grades are outstanding. All A's. And you took marching band playing the tuba it says here" Poppy said pointing at the paper, "You seem well-rounded. Not excluding you Mabel. You seem to be ahead of your grade in your math and English classes as well. You two appear to have done a lot of summer school to get ahead so much."

"Yeah."

Dipper recalled all of the summer schools and summer camps the two had taken together throughout the years. Gravity Falls was the first summer where they didn't have summer school, hence why it was the greatest summer of their lives: it was filled with adventure, danger, and child like fun. It was like a full childhood crammed into one summer. Of course they had to 'work' at the mystery shack but it was more fun than it was work.

"Dipper, what would you like to do?" Ford asked his nephew.

"I would like to take classes at the high school."

"Excellent!" Poppy said, "How this will work is you will have Algebra 2 in the morning before school starts at the high school, Woodcreek, at 7:00am and then you will have Chemistry at 4:00. You've already missed the algebra class this morning, but you can still make it to the Chemistry class later this afternoon. The high schools hours are from 7:00 to 5:00 and the middle school is from 8:00 to 3:30. Long school days but you have a pretty long summer: 3 months instead of 10 weeks as you were doing before. There will also be more breaks within the school year than most schools. You'll be fine. I have to warn you though, these courses will be hard but don't worry, another girl the same grade as you, Penny, I think her name is, is taking these classes as well so you won't be alone."

The principal then handed the twins their schedules right as the bell rang.

"You two better be off." Poppy said, as she pushed the four of them gently out of her office, "Don't want to be late from your first day of school."

Once outside the office, the grunkles said their 'good lucks' to their niece and nephew.

"You two will do wonderful at school." Ford started, "Just remember to stay out of the woods unless you have a sharp object in hand. And don't show that sharp weapon off in front of anyone who will rat on you. Just be yourselves, find your friends, make new ones. Oh and don't start any fights."

"Unless the kid wants to fight. In that case you have to kick the other kid's butt." Stan added.

"Stan...well yeah. Kick 'em in the soft spot if necessary. But only as self defense understand?" Ford added.

"Don't worry, Grunkle Ford, we'll only use are mad monster fighting skills on monsters." Mabel assured him.

"Good. Have a good day, you two."

"Good luck."

And with that Mabel and Dipper ventured into the unknown.

…

The first day had gone by quickly. Dipper felt like he had blinked and missed all of it. Every teacher passed out a 'code of ethics' which was basically just a paper you and your parent/guardian had to sign in order to take the class and it gave you all the required materials you would need for the course. It was like this in California as well. Dipper never thought much about how these papers always said 'parent/guardian' on it. He had always thought that he would never need to use the 'guardian' option in his lifetime.

Fate had a funny way of making the most impossible things happen.

Dipper couldn't help but notice how boring school was without Mabel in all of his classes. At their old school, they were always together because everything was decided by last name. But here it was based off of intelligence and while Mabel was really smart, she didn't compare to Dipper. Of course, not being distracted by her will help him in the long run, but part of him didn't want to leave her behind.

By the end of the school day, Dipper felt like the day hadn't happened at all. It all went by so quickly. Soon enough, he and Mabel we getting into Grunkle Ford's red pickup truck (he mostly used it on monster hunts and to give him authority on the road). Both grunkles were in the car, just Ford was the one driving.

"How was school?" Stan asked.

"Well I met a boy," Mabel said, dreamily.

"Of course that's the first thing that comes up." Dipper said, rolling his eyes.

"He was super sweet. His name is Euro."

"Like the currency of Mexico?"

"I guess so. He's super sweet. But sadly, he has a girlfriend." Mabel looked disappointed.

Dipper couldn't help but notice that Ford tensed up a bit at the mentioning of Mabel liking a boy. He then remembered that Ford wasn't around for Mabel's more boy crazy part of the summer. By the time Ford got there Mabel had finally given up on a summer romance and didn't obsess over every guy she met. Ford didn't miss out on much but Dipper had a feeling that Ford wouldn't be as ok with Mabel dating as Stan was. Probably a good thing.

Soon they arrived home, Mabel and Stan got out of the car but Dipper just moved to the passenger's seat.

"I'll be back in about 20 minutes," Ford called to his brother. "I have to take Dipper to the high school. His class starts in 10 minutes. Please don't burn the house down while I'm gone. That goes for both of you."

"Don't worry poindexter."

"Don't worry Ford! Have a good time at your nerd class Dipper!"

Dipper waved Mabel goodbye and him and Ford were on the road again. The ride to the high school was shorter than the ride to the middle school. The high school was in the town while the middle school was more in the undeveloped parts of the area. Dipper got out of the car, said goodbye to Ford and entered the building alone.

Dipper double checked his schedule to make sure he was in the right classroom before entering the room. He found the class entirely empty at the moment, except for one girl who was sitting in the front of the classroom beside the window.

Dipper couldn't help but notice that she was rather adorable. But not in a creepy Gideon way but rather a '7 year old girl playing Risk and winning' kinda cute. She had long brunette hair pulled back by a bedazzled blue headband. She wore a long sleeved blue shirt under a black t-shirt with the 'Moon Battle's' opening title on it and a pair leggings that had a pattern of outer space. Her blue eyes were hidden behind large blue and silver glasses. She was a bit on the heavier side, but in a cute way. The only negative back was that her round face was in a scowl, as if she didn't want to be there.

Dipper couldn't help but stare. He assumed that she was Penny, the girl his age who is taking advanced classes as well. She had the true spirit of a nerd girl: arriving early, wearing a Moon Battle's outfit on the first day of school and taking advanced classes. He wondered if she liked playing DD and more D.

The class soon started and it was proven to be very easy. Dipper knew most of the answers already and raised his hand as often as he could. Penny didn't share this enthusiasm. She didn't talk at all: Dipper couldn't tell if it was because of irritation or because she was just shy. Dipper tried to talk to her but all he got was a head nod when he asked if her name was Penny.

The class ended after an hour. At the end of that hour, there was a large textbook, a bunch of notes and a packet full of the work that was due in class the next day in Dipper's backpack. When the bell rang, Dipper and Penny were the last ones out of the class. Dipper didn't pack up till the bell rang, unlike the other students who packed up 15 minutes before the bell rang. Penny just seemed to forget where she was shown by the fact that she was scrambling to get her stuff together. Most of the contents of her backpack were on her desk and took some time to get back in. this time was lengthened when her binder accidently fell off her desk and spewed all over the floor. She scrambled to pick up the papers and soon was joined by Dipper. He picked up the papers which turned out to not be school work but rather drawings. Very good drawings in fact. He noticed that they were all of 'Pocket demons' creatures and things relating to it.

"Here you go." Dipper said, picking up the binder which now had all of the papers inside of it.

"Thanks." Penny mumbled, her voice soft.

Penny left the room quickly, embarrassed. Dipper was happy, mainly because he finally got a word out from her. He had a feeling he had just found another mystery that he wanted to crack.

Dipper headed outside the school and quickly found Ford's car. He slung his back-breaking backpack into the backseat and climbed in.

"How was it?" Ford asked, as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"It was great. I have a bunch of homework and a textbook larger than all 3 journals combined but overall. It was great."

Dipper left out Penny. He was never one to admit his crushes and at this point he wasn't even sure if it was a crush at all. He had barely gotten over Wendy and it was too soon to start obsessing over another girl. He also left out the discomfort in his hands. He would handle that problem as soon as he could. Dipper wasn't one to complain in public.

When they made it home Dipper rushed to the bathroom to check on his gauze that he had not changed or removed all day. The day of writing notes had taken a toll on the burns and it hurt even worse than before.

The doctors had told Dipper that it would get worse before it would get better. He hadn't felt pain in his hands but that's what concerned him: he couldn't detect the pain. His hands had gotten worse: they had been rubbed raw after just one day of school. He stifled back a scream as he removed the gauze. Pieces of chipped flesh and dried blood covered the gauze he had removed and it horrified him. He wondered if he would ever recover from the burns: the flesh peeling off every time he tried to move his hand couldn't be healthy. Plus, it still felt like the fire was still burning him. His flesh burned.

In an attempt to make the aching go away, he turned on the faucet and rinsed cold water on his hands. It felt wonderful. The doctors had told him that this would help but Dipper had not yet tried it until this moment.

Dipper pulled the stopper on the sink and allowed the basin to fill up with the cold water. He pulled up the stool in the bathroom and just sat there with his hands in the cold water. It felt cool and comforting. His hands weren't giving him any pain, but having them in the water just seemed to relax them.

He lost track of time, his mind was deep in thought about school the next day and how much homework needed to be done. But he just couldn't convince himself to get up and start working on it. He just wanted to stay there.

Then there was a knock on the door.

"Dipper?" Ford said from the other side. "It's dinner time."

"I'm not hungry!" Dipper called.

"Hm...ok...we'll leave some extra for you if you get hungry later."

Ford left wondering what the matter was.

A few minutes later, Dipper tried to remove his hands from the water but the moment he did he was met with the uncomfortable feeling in his hands. He instantly put his hands back in.

Ford made his way to the dinner table where he had made chicken Alfredo. Ford had decided that he was the only one who he trusted in the kitchen: Stan deep fried and burned everything and considered "scrambled meat" a meal, Mabel had the nasty habit of putting glitter and plastic dinosaurs in everything and Dipper...has Dipper ever tried to cook? Anyways, the responsibility of meals rested on Fords shoulders and every chance he could, he would make dinner. Once the semester starts at the college things would be different but for now.

"How long has Dipper been in the bathroom?" Ford asked, joining Mabel and Stan who were already on their 3rd helping.

"I don't know." Mabel said, with food in her mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Mabel. But has he been there long?"

Mabel swallowed.

"I haven't seen him since the car ride."

Ford was officially concerned.

"Excuse me for a moment."

Ford stood up and walked up stairs determined to make Dipper come out.

"Dipper." Ford called, knocking on the bathroom door, "Mabel says that you have been in there all day. Open up now."

"In a minute!"

"Now."

"I said in a minute!"

"What's taking you so long?"

"Uh...nothing."

"That doesn't do anything but concern me. If you don't tell me what's wrong I am going to have to assume the worst. Open the door now Dipper or else."

"I said in a minute!"

Ford had lost patience at this point. He pulled out his blaster gun and fired three shots: 2 at the hinges and 1 at the door knob. The door fell with a cash.

He found dipper sitting on a stool with his hands wrapped in a towel.

"What was that for? Why did you shoot the door down? I was using the bathroom!"

"No you weren't. You've been in here all day and I'm going to find out why. Tell me now."

"I was...I was just..."

Ford then saw the high water level of the sink's basin.

"You were trying to heal your hands, weren't you..." Ford said, hitting himself in the forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm sorry...Dipper for acting so rudely. But why didn't you just tell me that your hands were bothering you?"

"Cause...I don't want to concern Mabel."

"Do you know what will concern her more? The fact that she just heard 3 gun shots."

"True."

"Just reapply you gauze and come down stairs."

"Ok."

Dipper turned his back and his his hands away from Ford so he couldn't see. But this didn't stop Ford from seeing a bit of his damaged hands.

"Dipper...what degree of burn did the doctors say you had?"

"2nd. Why?"

Ford quickly, without warning, grabbed Dipper's hands. To Ford's surprise, dipper didn't scream or express any pain whatsoever.

"Does this hurt?" Ford gripped his hand tightly.

"No, not at all."

Realization hit Ford like a blow to the face. Still gripping his hand, Ford yanked Dipper out of the bathroom and down stairs.

"Stan! Mabel! I'm taking Dipper to the hospital! Clean up the dinner table and meet us there!"

"What's wrong?" Dipper asked as Ford pushed him into the passenger side of Ford's red 4 wheeler. "It's not hurting, isn't that a good thing?"

"No. You should be in incredible pain and anguish." Ford said buckling up and hitting the gas pedal. "Dipper...those aren't 2nd degree burns...those are 3rd degree burns.

The doctors must have messed up in the diagnostic. And at your expense."

"How bad is a 3rd degree?"

"Bad...especially when you rinse it under water without getting proper medical care."

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Dipper hit himself in the head with each word.

"Stop hitting yourself, Dipper. We can't risk damaging your hands more."

The two arrived at the hospital and got into a room almost instantly.

"Did you really have to flash your gun at them?" Dipper said, sitting on the hospital bed.

"It saved us a 4 hour wait."

The doctors soon arrived and forced Ford out of the room.

Ford sat alone in the waiting room until Stan and Mabel arrived. Ford explained to them the situation.

"Poor Dipper..." Mabel said, hurt.

"Why didn't the kid tell us something was wrong." Stan said."That kid's smart enough to know what 3rd degree burns look like."

"But not smart enough to realize how dangerous they can be..."

...

After several hours at the hospital, Dipper was finally allowed to head home: Stan and Mabel in one car and Ford and Dipper in the other.

Ford tried to keep his eyes on the road but found himself watching Dipper. Dipper looked as if he had just went through weirdmaggedon again and probably felt worse.

"You going to be ok?"

"The doctors said my hands would heal...eventually..."

"That's not what I asked. Are you going to be ok?"

Dipper remained silent for the longest time. He didn't speak until they had pulled up next to the mystery shack.

"It's...it's just..." Dipper rubbed his eyes with his wrist. "...everything seems to be going wrong...I thought things would get better after Stan defeated Bill...but..."

"Dipper, I'm not going to lie to you and say I know how you feel." Ford said, honestly, "because I have no idea what it feels like to have your parents taken from you but..."

"They weren't even good parents! Why do I care so much!"

"Huh? Dipper you couldn't possibly mean that. True, I've never met your parents but..."

"They never truly cared about us. Or at least didn't show it..."

"Dipper..."

"Gravity Fall wasn't the first time we were sent away from home for a summer...we would spend every summer starting age 4 at day and night cares, summer school programs and summer camps..."

"Dipper that doesn't mean they..."

"And it was no better during the school year. Sometimes weeks would go by when we hadn't seen our parents at all..."

"I'm sure you exaggerating...no one would leave you two alone that long."

Dipper was sobbing now, not being able to hold back the years of neglect and hurt.

"Why do you think me and Mabel grew so close? For most of the time, we were all that we had."

"Dipper..."

"Don't you find it strange that two parents would send there only kids to another state for the summer? They knew what it was like here: how dangerous it is even without the monsters, grunkle Stan's driving abilities, and all of that. But they still sent us here. Don't you find that a tad strange?"

Ford didn't know how to respond.

"We sent letters and pictures home but we never got a response...ever. Not once throughout the entire summer! I even sent pictures of the monsters we found to show them how dangerous it was here...no response..."

"I'm sure they loved you two..."

"They had a funny way of showing it..."

Ford didn't know how to handle this. He had never had kids to parent or comfort before. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. Maybe get Dipper a therapist? Yeah...that would be good.

"Dipper, I know you've haven't felt love from your parents but now you have Stan and me. We love and care about you very much." Ford said, putting his hand on Dipper's back, trying to comfort the crying child,"I think...I think we should get you a therapist. I was planning on getting you and your sister one anyway due to the previous...event."

"I don't need a therapist."

"Dipper, there's nothing wrong with getting a therapist."

"Yes there this..."

All was silent except for Dipper's sobs. Ford watched as he saw Stan's car pull into the driveway and Stan and Mabel get out of the car. Stan and Ford had a silent conversation through the glass: Ford telling Stan to just take Mabel inside and let him handle it and Stan telling him 'don't screw this up poindexter'.

Dipper saw Mabel give him a sorrowful and worried look as she entered the mystery shack. Dipper just turned his face away from her in shame of her having seen him cry.

Ford placed his hand on Dippers back trying to comfort him and noticed for the first time that day that dipper was wearing a knit sweater: the one Mabel had no doubt given him.

In that moment, it all made sense to Ford: Dipper's injury, his neglect of emotions, hiding his pain. It was crystal clear.

"Dipper." Ford said putting his arm on Dipper's shoulder and forcing him to look at himself. "Are...are you doing all of this...for Mabel."

Dipper just looked down at the floor of the car.

"When you burned your hands..." Ford thought out loud, "You said you hurt then trying to open several burning hot door handles and other objects...because you didn't want Mabel to get hurt touching them."

More sobs.

"You...you've been wearing that sweater to make her happy and appreciated to distract her from the pain."

Dipper was shaking horrible now, not being able to control himself.

"You didn't tell us about how your hands had gotten worse because you didn't want her to worry. You knew the whole time that it was a lot worse than the doctors thought but you kept it hidden so not to worry her."

Dipper sobbed and heaved and choked uncontrollably.

"And you've been like this your whole life. Mabel would always acknowledge your parents absence and you were her shoulder to cry on. You've always been her shoulder to cry on."

Dipper couldn't stand it anymore. Something broke inside of him. Something that he knew would snap eventually. Something he knew would dismantle inside of him soon. He threw himself onto Ford and began sobbing openly into his uncle's shirt.

"I'm...supposed...huh...to...be...gasp...the...strong...heave...one!" Dipper heaved into his uncles shirt. "I'm...ghah...not...sniff...supposed... sob...to...cry..."

"It's ok to cry, Dipper." Ford embraced his nephew, holding him tightly in his arms, comforting him the best he could. "It's not weak. Do you remember those terrible days when we were trying to get Stan's memories back? I cried more times than I can count...a few times openly in front of you kids. I have a confession. I still have nightmares about Stan losing his memory again. When that happens, I cry myself to sleep, not being able to control it. It's not weak to cry: if not by that standard I would be the wimpiest man alive. Don't be afraid to cry, Dipper."

Dipper responded by latching himself on tighter to Ford, which he didn't mind. Dipper needed this: he had been deprived of this sort of compassion his entire life. He needed this. They both did.

It took a long time before Ford realized that Dipper had fallen asleep. The thought of Dipper, his beloved nephew, ever having to fall asleep crying haunted him. It was something that should never happen and never should have happened.

Ford managed, somehow, to get out of the car, lock the car, unlock the front door, carry Dipper up to his room, not wake Mabel and tuck him into bed without removing Dipper from his arms. Ford felt that this was an accomplishment in and of itself.

Ford quietly closed the door of the sleeping twin's room to find his brother standing outside the room.

"I saw most of that." Stan said, rubbing his forehead as he did when he was feeling worried. "Dipper...his hands aren't the only things in deep pain are they?"

"I think the kids shouldn't go to school tomorrow. They need one more day of healing. And tonight, we have a lot of talking to do."


	5. Playing Hooky

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Denial**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Playing Hooky**

Penny was sitting on a log deep within the gravity falls forest, reading while impatiently waiting for her brother. At this point, she should have been used to it, but she wasn't.

A few hours later, she finally heard her brother approach.

"About time, Euro. What kept you this time."

"Briana." His sister rolled her eyes at the mention of his girlfriend.

"Of course, that little creature is more important than your sibling."

"I wouldn't say more important, just more accessible."

"Whatever you say. Come on, you know what we have to do."

...

All of the Pines twins had been having nightmares but were all too stubborn to tell them. If they had told each other there dreams then they might have realized that they all had the same nightmare.

They all woke up tired, but hid it the best they could.

They sat around the breakfast table in silence, no one really sure of what to say.

"So...why are we home today?" Mabel asked, breaking the silence.

"Stan and I thought it would be best if you two just took the day to relax and catch up." Ford said, avoiding Dipper's eyes by staring at his coffee.

"Yeah, kids. Go have fun. Steal a pie off of a window seal or flirt with some stranger you meet on the street or something normal like that." Stan said, his mouth full of the omelet Mabel made for him. "Just go out and have a good time."

"Really?!" Mabel shouted. "We get to ditch school!"

"It's not like you learn much there anyways."

"Stanley."

"What? It's the truth. You learned everything you know by monster hunting and dangerous situations and stuff like that."

"That's...a valid point." Ford admitted, "but the kids still have to go to school."

"We'll talk about it. Go have fun kids!"

Stan scooted the twins out of the front door. When he saw that the kids were heading safely off into town, he returned back to the mystery shack to find his brother packing supplies into a dusty, worn backpack.

"I guess you're going on a little adventure too, huh?" Stan said, taking a swig of his coffee.

"There is a cave up in the mountains where I learned about all of the strange anomalies I could pertaining to Gravity Falls." Ford said, reloading the bullets in his gun before strapping it to his side on his tool belt. "I didn't get enough information the first time I was up there and it would be best if I checked it out today. The town has gone silent and refuse to acknowledge any weird occurrences. They seem to be making themselves forget what a strange place this is without the use of a memory gun."

"So you think some cave paintings on the wall are going to do what exactly?"

"Well in those particular cave paintings are the same ones that predicted the odd-pocalypse so there must be some truth to them. I wish to find out exactly what is to happen next, if anything at all. There is said to be an oracle hidden in those mountains. Whether it is a cave painting or an all-knowing being, they know the answers to questions that could protect the universe."

"Well if you're going on some crazy monster-fighting adventure, I'm coming too."

"Stan, this will be dangerous. I've been in these mountains several times before and almost died each time. I can't allow you to risk your life."

"And I can't let you risk yours. I thought you had learned your lesson from the last time you messed around with 'Voo Doo' or 'magic'. You can't do this alone. You're not leaving me behind this time."

Ford stared at his brother, who wasn't even fully dressed at the moment, thinking about his words. Ford had become paranoid about his brother ever since...ever since the events of weirdmaggedon. He didn't want to admit it to Stan, but he feared that his work would cause devastating catastrophes on what was left of the Pines family. He didn't want to mess with delicate forces of nature, but he also feared that something disastrous would accrue if he stayed blind to something. It was a two sided blade. His greatest fear is that something would happen to Stan's mind once more.

Ford didn't wish to acknowledge it, but Stan was still having temporary relapses. It had happened on several occasions where he would remember his entire life story one minute but then forget Ford's name the next. He memory would usually return after sparking an emotional or painful memory. Ford hated doing it but reminded Stan of the terrible things that had happened to him helped him remember the good times as well. Thank goodness the kids weren't around when Stan had these relapses, but it was still hard on Ford. Every time Stan would forget, Ford had to remind him of all the pain Ford had put Stan through as a desperate attempt to save his memory, forcing Ford to have Stan relive the worst moments of his life: the time he was kicked out of the house, the time he got his tattoo, even the moments of fear as he watched Bill almost kill Mabel and Dipper. All of those things were caused by Ford's own foolishness and ignorance. Sometimes, Ford wanted Stan to forget that those things happened.

But, he never wanted to lose his brother just to clear his guilty conscious.

"You can come. Just please, put some clothes on."

Within a few minutes, the classic mystery twins were dressed and ready for adventure. But unfortunately, the start of their life-changing, history altering, mind blowing adventure started with a 3 hour long drive into the mountains.

"How much longer until something happens?" Stan said, picking underneath his toe nails.

"With luck, or maybe a miracle, nothing will hap…"

As his fate was playing a prank on them, two Minotaurs crashed into the road, locked in a epic battle to see who would win what appeared to be a bag of jerky. Ford quickly swerved out of the way of the two beasts and into a tree. The twins lunged forward, their life's only saved by the seat belts across their shoulders. After hitting the tree, Ford quickly back the truck out of the wreckage of pine trees and bushes and went back onto the road where they continued on, a little bit shaken.

"Enough excitement for you?" Ford asked his brother, coughing up a couple of leaves and pine needles.

"Yeah that will do. The video of those two duking it out will make a great tourist video to sell in the store."

"We almost died by crashing into a tree and you somehow had time to capture a video of two mythical beasts fighting over a package of beef jerky?"

"A man's gotta make a living."

Soon, the path became to treacherous for Ford's four-wheeler and they were forced to hike the rest of the way to the cave. Ford didn't feel a bit winded, but Stan was struggling a bit. They had to stop several times along the way, allowing Stan to catch his breath before continuing. It reminded Ford of the time he went traveling into these mountains with Fiddleford, only it was over 30 years later and with his brother instead.

At long last, they reached the opening of the cave.

"Ah Stanley and Stanford Pines," a groggily, old voice from the cave. "I see you've come back to me just like I predicted you would."

"Oh great," Stan said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "The hand witch."

"You know her?"

"Unfortunately."

"I can hear you two!" The hand witch shouted at the two before appearing.

She was exactly as Stan, and more shockingly, and Ford remembered: old, hunched over and surrounded by a bunch of severed hands of the men that she had flirted with before.

"It seems you two have come to get answers about your futures. Come, come in. make yourselves at home."

The cave was not as creepy as Ford remembered it to be. It was actually lavishly furnished and looked less like an ancient cave and more like a model home. The three of them sat down on the pink and purple cushions.

"It's so nice to see you two again. I hardly ever get visitors, especially not two at the same time and especially not twin brothers. What a treat."

"Can it hag, we're just here so my brother can get some information about some weird paranormal junk or something. And we are leaving with the same hands that we came here with."

"How rude. Very well, I assume you want your palms read."

Before they could answer, the hand witch grabbed hold of Stan's hands and began reading his palm.

"You will constantly be forgetting who you are and what you stand for," she said pointing at a long line a little dents in his palm, "Your life will be longer than it should be. You will be lucky or unlucky enough to have a large family. Your life will always be in hands other than your own and you have an uncontrollable fondness for toffee peanuts."

"And how do you know that? I hardly think you can tell his eating habits by reading a couple lines and creases on his palm."

"I can if there is still bits of toffee peanuts stuck in his finger nails. Now your turn, Stanford. Let's see if your fate has changed since the last time we met."

Ford held out his 6 finger hand, curious if anything had changed. The first time he had met the witch, he didn't believe a word she had said. However, they all turned out to be true. No matter how crazy she looked or acted, she had a power of prophecy and Ford needed the guidance.

"It seems that you have fulfilled all of your old fates. But of course, fate is constantly changing but unavoidable. Now let's see." the witch looked deeply into his palms, focused on a short but deep crease in his palm. "You seemed to have finally found something that you do not wish to jar up and preserve but rather would wish to watch grow and learn, but protect with every ounce of your being. How late you learned, Stanford. Your brother has known this from the beginning, but you took your time. It will cost you. Your ignorance is still your downfall. Your quest for knowledge will both be your enemy and your friend. Your worst fears will soon be upon you and the more you ignore them the more you hurt them. You will never find peace if you ignore the warnings. Beware birch trees."

After she let go of Ford's hand, he took a moment to just sit there in silence. He wanted to convince himself that she had not said that last line, or that he had misinterpreted its meaning and he found himself successful. He wasn't worried.

The two quickly left the cave, not wanting their hands to become part of the cave's interior design, and started the hike down the mountain.

"What was that about poindexter? You don't seriously believe anything that nut-case said right?"

"Not all of it. Did you hear the last line she said?"

"You mean about the toffee peanuts?"

"No, mine."

"Something about birch trees. What about them?"

"Birch trees are Bill's tiny portals into our world: a way to spy on us. It almost sounded like...like."

"Like what sixer?"

"Like he could still be alive."

Stan stood in silence, not knowing whether to laugh at his brother's statement, grow angry at him for suggesting that the dream demon was still around, pray to whatever force was in charge of these things or just stare at the nearest birch tree until it devoured him whole. He chose anger.

"That demon can't be alive. You got rid of him. He's the reason if I keep forgetting if I'm a man or a woman. He can't be alive."

"I'm not entirely sure. He was erased from memory, but it is known that the only way to destroy him is with the zodiac symbol."

"So it was all for nothing? That demon could come back and hurt the kids?"

"No. he might still be alive. But there is no way for him to return. I am positive of that."

The two of them went on their way, ignorant to the fact that a birch tree was only a few feet away from them.


	6. Smile, darn ya, smile

**Gravity Falls**

 _ **Everything Will Be Ok**_

 **Denial**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Smile, Darn Ya, Smile**

 **Try to guess the reference in the title. It's from a cartoon movie very similar to Gravity Falls in the sense that it's a cartoon that has a deeper and darker plot and is considered a work of art...and somehow is meant for kids.**

 **Beware birch trees.**

Everything was going great for the young Pines twins. The months passed quickly and easily, for the most part, with very minor problems: mostly just the problems of normal teen agers.

September was probably the hardest.

The school year started just like it usually started: new teachers, new classmates and new classes. While Dipper's hands made his normal day to day life uncomfortable and the constant doctors' appointments crammed his schedule full, he still enjoyed his life to the fullest. For most of the day he ignored his hands which proved to be effective. Distracting himself with school work, clubs (which Mabel called 'nerd groups') and his new crush and friend Penny took his mind away from his hands.

Penny and Dipper had become close, despite her shyness. They both shared the love for all things nerdy. In between classes they would often have 'monster-mon' battles, using the cards of course. Dipper had lost his gaming console and all of his video games in the fire but he could easily afford the cards. At school they would spend their time in the library, reading or trying to pummel each other playing chess. They were the only eighth graders in the entire school with high school classes and were often mocked for their intelligence, so they stuck together. Ford soon began giving the two of them rides to school so that Penny wouldn't have to take the bus every day and after that Penny became a regular guest at the Pines residents. Ford saw her as a female version of his nephew and the three of them would often play DD and more D together, each winning about the same amount as the other players. Dipper was happy with this non-stop fun.

His life was crammed full of everything and anything and often was too busy or too tired to eat, but he loved his life.

Mabel was having the time of her life as well. She quickly made a lot of friends including Pacifica. Mabel felt really bad for Pacifica. After her parents had lost all of their money, people refused to talk to her even though she was till the richest girl in school. But without the mansion to prove it, people just ignored her for the most part. But since Mabel never wanted anyone to be sad, she befriended her at school and the two became close friends. With Mabel's magnetic personality, Pacifica's popularity rose back to its glorious status, but Pacifica always stayed loyal to Mabel, forever grateful that she made her smile. The two of them ran for student council and won in a landslide. They two were now president and vice president of the school which had always been Mabel's dream. AS one of the two most popular girls in the school, Mabel got a lot of attention, especially from boys. Euro, the boy she had met on the first day of school, had become one of her close friends as well. He was super sweet and funny, like a male version of herself. Everything about his was the color red: he had red hair, always wore a red hoodie and he was red hot of course! Of course being the head of the school took a lot of work, but it was fun work.

With so many things to do, Mabel would spend most of her nights staying up all night finishing projects and posters for school, but she wouldn't want it any other way.

The twins soon realized that they had befriended siblings as well: Penny and Euro were twins. While for the most part, they looked nothing alike, they still had the same strong connection that Mabel and Dipper had. The pines couldn't imagine life without those two. They connected in more ways than one. When Dipper and Mabel told them about the fire that killed their parents, they understood. Penny and Euro had lost their parents at a young age and were raised by their much older brother who had recently died during the summer. This tragic story ultimately brought the 4 of them closer. Together the 4 of them would often go into the woods to find adorable or deadly creatures to study or, in Mabel's and Euro's case, snuggle.

Their other friends weren't kept out of the fun either. Wendy, Candy, Grenda and Pacifica were constantly at the Pines residents doing sleep overs or just monster hunting in general. To everyone's surprise, Pacifica was great at video games and her and Dipper would constantly argue on who was better but ultimately Mabel would win while they were distracted.

September quickly passed and October was soon there. School was kicked into full gear, pounding the twins with homework. It soon became a routine for the twins to go down into Ford's library in the basement and ask Ford for help on their homework or projects. When Mabel first report card showed that she was barely passing each class, Ford stepped into her school life. Every day, Ford would work with Mabel for an hour making sure she did her homework, did it correctly and study as hard as she could because he refused to let her fail. Ford loved working with Mabel and always took the time to help her with everything and anything even after the long days of teaching at the 'gravity fall's university'. While Mabel didn't really like this, she soon began getting A's in her classes which she did enjoy. Dipper would be down there with them during their lessons, mostly just staying quiet while reading or doing homework of his own.

Dipper loved Ford's workspace down there: it was quiet, secluded and full of books and research reports. Mabel preferred upstairs but could see why Dipper liked it.

At the end of October came the twins' favorite holiday: Halloween. The two dressed up as characters from their favorite video game: extreme plumber brother. When they showed up to school that day, everyone loved their costumes. Twins in costumes: the people eat it up. They went trick or treating that night joined by Grenda, Candy and Pacifica and had the biggest stomachaches of all time.

November came right after Halloween, as it always does. Ford made a huge dinner for thanksgiving and Stan and Mabel were in heaven. Pacifica came over for dinner that night because her family wasn't having dinner that night because 'they had nothing to be thankful for'. Dipper didn't have much appetite, he hadn't been hungry at all lately, but he forced himself to eat some turkey. After the meal, they celebrated grunkle Stan's favorite holiday: Black Friday shopping. No one can tell what you're stealing when everything is in chaos, as Stan pointed out. But Ford made him wait in line and actually buy the things they wanted. Dipper had fallen asleep while waiting in line, but Mabel didn't feel an ounce bit tired.

December came and along with it a snow fall and a wedding. Soos had proposed to Melody a few weeks previous and their wedding was held during this month. The wedding took place at the mystery shack with Stan presiding. Mabel was the flower girl and Dipper was the ring bearer. The day went perfectly. Melody kinda became the twins adopted mother. Melody adored the two twins and loved to be around them as they spent time together at the shack.

Christmas was a joy, as it always was. This was both Ford's and Stan's first actual Christmas in a really long time so it was extra special. Ford took the liberty to completely spoil his niece and nephew on Christmas morning because he had never been able to spoil anyone before. Dipper was so excited to unwrap a new hand console and a whole bunch of monster-mon games and Mabel was elated at the present of a sewing machine and a bunch of bright fabric. The gifts given in between Stan and Ford were more important than anything the younger twins had gotten however. Both of the 'mystery twins classic' had trouble finding their brother a gift so they needed help. Ford asked Mabel what she thought Stan would want and Stan asked Dipper on what Ford would want. The results were Stan receiving a gold chain that he had seen on the cover of 'gold chains for old men' magazine and Ford getting a new laptop. Dipper and Mabel also gave their grunkles a gift: a scrapbook filled to the brim of every memory they shared together. Stan happily added this scrapbook onto the shelf that contained Mabel's old scrapbook which Mabel had left there at the end of the summer right before the twins left.

Everything was merry and bright in the Mystery shack. They didn't notice anything bad so they were constantly happy. They were oblivious to the fact that Dipper was a lot taller but somehow his weight is 30 pounds lighter than what it was during the summer. No one noticed the dark marks underneath Mabel's eyes or the fact that she tossed and turned in her bed at night, her mind unable to rest. They didn't seem to care that Penny and Euro would often disappear after school and always traveled into the woods when the twins said goodbye to them. They didn't hear the echoey voice whispering ominous messages to them. They couldn't even recognize that the knots on the birch trees outside would change position and sometimes even blink. In their mind's, everything was ok.

The Pines were asleep: they were sleeping peacefully through a nightmare.

And Bill couldn't wait until their eyes opened.


	7. waking up to find a hole in your chest

**Anger**

 **Chapter 6**

 **Waking up to find a hole in your chest**

Dipper woke up in the middle of the night to find a large single eye above him, watching him as he slept. It was quick to realize that it was not just an eye but a yellow triangle with a large eye in the middle wearing a top hat and bow tie.

"Miss me pine tree? Admit it you missed me." Bill Cipher laughed.

Dipper couldn't believe what he was seeing so he didn't. He rubbed his eyes, hoping he was just seeing something that wasn't there.

"I'm still here Pine tree! Closing your eyes won't get rid of me!"

"Hhh...hhh...how is this possible," Dipper stammered, "St...St...Stan defeated you!"

"Ignorant little pine tree." Bill chuckled and put his arm around Dipper's shoulder. "I am a being a pure energy. And one thing you dumb humans understand is that energy cannot be created or destroyed. You thought you can just defeat me with a simple memory gun that can't even fully erase someone's mind? That is too adorable!"

Bill booped Dipper's nose.

Dipper squirmed out of Bill's arms and then scooted as far away from the monster as possible.

"No...no...no no no no NO!" Dipper shouted uncontrollably. "You can't be here! You're dead! You were erased! Stan gave up his life to destroy you! You can't be here! You're dead and gone just like my parents! You are all dead!"

"You are sort of right Pine Tree." Bill laid himself on Dipper's lap, "I am as dead as your father."

Dipper attempted to shove Bill off of his lap but found that his hands just passed through his triangle form.

"Wow, I am so afraid now." Bill said sarcastically as he booped Dipper's nose once again, "Nothing's more terrifying than a 13 year old boy who barely weighs 60 pounds and plays 'monster mon' in the library during lunch. I'm trembling. Look kid, your dad is still alive. You're closer to him than you think."

"You're lying. I know you are! I saw their dead bodies at their funeral! My mom and dad are dead! I should have saved them but then..."

Something clicked inside of Dipper's head.

"But then what, little Pine Tree?"

Dipper clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"YOU WERE THAT VOICE WHO TOLD ME TO ABANDON THEM!" Dipper shouted loud enough to wake the whole town. "You whispered to me that I should just leave them! You started the fire! You made me kill them!"

"Took you long enough." Bill chuckled a bit, "you would think you would recognize when 'your conscience' has a weird echoey voice. You humans sure are gullible."

Dipper was furious. He had sworn that he would never become someone's pawn again, but he became just that.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg, Pine Tree. You've finally woke up from your dream and you now know you're living a nightmare. The fire happened, summer's over, the pain has just begun. Your time to hide from fate and truth is over: you can't escape your destiny."

"Quit the games Cipher. You better leave or else..."

"Or else what, Pine Tree? What could you possibly do to me?! You can't escape me Pine Tree! Like it or not our destiny's are intertwined."

"What's your plan, you murderer!"

"Oh don't worry, Pine Tree. I don't want to hurt any of the Pines family. For now. It all depends on your sister in the end if you guys live or die. Until then, I'll leave you be. Just you might want to recover from everything. Start eating again, you look like a skeleton. And don't shout so much. Your sister is running on an hour of sleep per week."

"Why should I believe anything you say? You always lie!"

"Don't believe me, Pine Tree?" Bill laughed, "Tell me then, when was the last time you actually sat down and ate something without barfing it up afterwards? When was the last time you saw Shooting Star sleep?"

"I...I...uh…"

Dipper couldn't remember. He had been so busy with his life and after school programs and working with Ford that he often forgot to eat...but he wasn't starving himself. Was he? He looked down at his body and looked at it for the longest time in a while. He looked like a skeleton. The clothes on his body had fit snugly before but now they were hanging over his boney frame. Looking down his loose shirt he could see that he could clearly see his ribs through his skin. He felt fine, which worried the crap out of him. How did he not notice this before?

"It seems that you're anorexic." Bill poked Dipper's nonexistent stomach. "You've been unintentionally starving yourself, Pine Tree."

"That's...that's impossible...You did this to me!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Sorry to say that I didn't." Bill chuckled, "You did this to yourself. Of course you're not all to blame. Fez has been noticing that you're not well but sixer keeps telling him that you're fine."

"You're lying. You did this to me."

"You're just proving me right about humans being idiots." Bill sat himself behind Dipper and made his triangle form larger than usual so that he towered over the skeleton boy. "I've left your family alone for the past few months: your lives were in such chaos that I didn't need to interfere. You starving yourself, your sister's suffering from insomnia, Ford is just plain delusional and Stan keeps forgetting your guys' names! How entertaining! And I didn't have to do a thing!"

Dipper remained silent, clenching his fists in anger. No matter what Bill said, Bill caused all of this. Bill killed their parents. Bill made Dipper unable to eat. Bill was torturing Mable's mind at night. Bill was making Ford ignorant. Bill was making Stan forget. That was the only explanation Dipper could come up with.

"You still believe I caused everything, don't ya Pine Tree? I didn't. I didn't start the fire and I didn't torture you or your family. You guys caused those things yourself. Well tonight was fun. See you real soon Pine Tree!"

Bill snapped his fingers and vanished. The colors of the lifeless room returned.

Dipper was in a state of pure rage. He screamed words that Stan would have hit him with a newspaper for saying into his pillow. He punched the wall with his newly healed hands until there was a dent in the wall. He carved a picture of Bill onto the wood framing of his bed before taking out a lighter and burning it until the image could no longer be seen.

"Dipper?" Mabel asked, her voice tired and concerned. "What are you doing? What's going on? Are you ok?"

"Nothing! I'm fine!" Dipper said, bitter and angry, "just go back to sleep."

Mabel tried to go to sleep but, as always, was unable to. She heard the noise of her brothers shuffling feet. If she had had enough energy to open her eyelids, she would have seen that Dipper grabbed a pocket knife and a metal bat before leaving the room and then leaving the house entirely.

With whatever remaining strength Mabel had, she used it get become just as upset as Dipper. She couldn't understand why he would run off in the middle of the night or yell at her for just asking if he was ok. She grumbled bitter thing against her brother, furious that he always walk out on her and leaves her in the dust. She cursed his secrecy. She cursed his stupid brain for being smarter than her. If they had the same intelligence her and Dipper would have the same classes and spend more time with each other. Then Dipper wouldn't feel alone and wouldn't walk away randomly in the middle of the night.

Outside, Dipper wandered through the forest without a flashlight. He knew this forest so well that he didn't need one. He soon found a birch tree to which he then found a knot in the bark of it. He carved a triangle wearing a top hat and bow tie around the knot. He then lifted his metal bat and started beating the tree as hard as he could. With each swing, he would shout curses into the night sky. He didn't stop until the metal bat finally broke the tree trunk of the relatively young tree. The top half of the tree fell to the earth, dead. Dipper felt no remorse staring at the dark, lifeless, splintered birch wood that he, himself, had destroyed.

And that's what terrified him the most.


	8. Dipper reenacts his favorite movie scene

**Anger**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Dipper reenacts his favorite scene from 'moon battles'**

Bill was back and Dipper was furious. How long had he been back? Why hadn't he noticed it? Why hadn't Ford noticed it? If Ford had noticed Bill's return, why didn't he tell Dipper? Argh!

Dipper found himself bitter and angry for most of the day. Penny took notice to this rather quickly during zero period.

"Dipper?" Penny's soft, sweet and innocent voice asked, "What's wrong? You're acting strange. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Dipper said a bit too harshly, "Just leave me alone Penny."

Penny didn't bother him for the rest of that day. Dipper was certain that she was in league with Bill and even if she wasn't, Dipper wouldn't have talked to her anyways. He was too angry and confused at the present moment.

Dipper ditched school around lunch time and headed home to the mystery shack, trudging through the snow covered forest. He grew tired of each of his teachers calling attention to his irritable mood. Ford was at work and Stan didn't really care if Dipper ditched a day of school so it seemed like the best option.

Not trusting Ford, Dipper went to Ford's underground lab and rummaged through one of his bookshelves. To Dipper's amazement, he found a journal that he had never seen before. He slid it off of the bookshelf and read its title aloud.

" _Quod_ _videntes omnes_ _oculus,_ " Dipper read the Latin title, "The all seeing eye."

Dipper flipped through the pages of the ratted, weathered book. Ford had obviously found it somewhere recently or else Dipper would have seen this book before. The book had drawings and long descriptions and theories about an all too infamous triangle. Dipper had a very limited understanding of Latin (Ford had been teaching them basic Latin to help them learn other languages easier) and he was able to get the point of the book: Bill was a very bad dude. Pictures showed the monster setting fire to galaxies, torturing different species and drinking blood. The words were no better. Dipper was able to find the words 'bloodthirsty' and 'insane' several time in just a few pages along with another recurring message: _fiducia nemo._

"Trust no one." Dipper muttered as he turned to a page with an all too familiar zodiac sign on it.

Dipper stared at the Cipher wheel for what seemed like hours, just glaring at the stupid pine tree symbol. That stupid tree ruined his life. That stupid hat sealed his fate for never being able to truly live. That stupid pine tree symbol ruined his life.

Dipper touched the cursed Pine Tree symbol. To his surprise, the wheel began to glow bright blue. Each symbol would light up, one after the other, with each round going faster than the previous one to a point where it was just a blur on which one was lit up. It suddenly stopped on the Pine Tree symbol.

And Dipper lost consciousness.

…

Dipper woke up in a bright, white realm of nothingness to see a face that he had only previously seen in Ford's 3rd journal.

"The oracle?" Dipper questioned, his eyesight still blurry from his unintended nap.

"Yes, Mason Pines. I am the oracle." The oracle said, her face in a soft and friendly smile. "You seem to be confused and lost. In need of answers, just like your great uncle Ford was a few years back."

Dipper couldn't do anything but nod in understanding, unsure of what to say to a being just as powerful, if not more, than Bill.

"You have questions, that I know." The oracle continued. "You are wondering who you are. What you are meant to me. Why you were chosen to be part of the zodiac. Wondering why you ever signed on for adventure?"

Dipper nodded again.

"I am not like Axolotl." She continued. "I do not know all of the answers, but you may ask as many questions as you wish. It is my duty to guide the zodiac members on their quest to defeat the all Seeing Eye."

Dipper asked the question that first came to his mind.

"Why is Bill back?"

"To answer that, you must first learn how he came to be, young Pine Tree." The oracle said, motioning her hand across the sky line and creating a holographic map of the galaxy. "You can't know where you are going if you do not know where you are. To know where you are you need to know where you have been. This is no different for Bill Cipher.

"There are a few certainties in all of the universes. There was once a galaxy full of basic creatures with extraordinary powers."

With a quick and graceful flick of her hand, the galaxy zoomed into a almost dead part of the universe and focused on a dimension full of shapes. As she told the story of Bill Cipher, these holographic images would appear, almost like a fairytale story, to illustrate the story.

. "With their powers and all-knowing minds, they created a perfect world that survived for all of time. They had the power to travel the galaxy but they had no intention of doing so because the rest of the galaxy was filled with confusion and uncertainty and weak minds and chaos. Millennium passed without anyone leaving the galaxy and they soon forgot that they held unstoppable power. Powers were normal. They didn't realize that their powers were unique and so they didn't refer to them as powers but rather ordinary tools and millennium without the realization soon had its toll.

"One day, a member of this community discovered that there were other worlds besides his own. He traveled to dipper's world, in its beginning. He saw the violence and confusion between the inhabitants of this world. He soon discovered that he could no longer use his powers in this world and the only thing he could do was possess the inhabitants of this world. He took control of a mouse. For the first time in his life he knew what it was like to feel: happiness, desire, hatred and fear. He instantly escaped the creature and tried to forget the things he had felt within the creature by returning to his own dimension. But he found that he couldn't forget and worse, he wanted more of it.

"He continued to possess the minds and bodies of animals gradually moving from mice to more deadly creatures. He continued this secret life for a millennium, possessing any creature he could find until one day he found one that he did not recognize: man. When he tried to take control of this creature he found that he couldn't, he could only enter his mind. Through what he called the dreamscape, he made a deal with the human that he would control his body to help him gather food. Once he entered the human, he discovered much more complicated emotions: love, depression, anger, and greed. He also discovered that while he possessed the body, he could use his powers again, well some of them.

"Eventually he got caught by his own dimension. He tried to explain to them that the world over there has these strong things within his soul. He tried to explain the concept of color and emotion, basically reenacting a scene from 'the giver', but it is pointless. They said that he has become simple minded and dependent on the wants of simpler creatures. They forbad him from living but then he got a thought in his mind. He realized that his own people were not living and therefore didn't deserve to live. He then used his powers to 'liberate' his own dimension leaving only himself and his two younger 'siblings' alive."

"Penny and Euro." Dipper said, putting the pieces together, "They're not just in league with him. They're his siblings."

"That is right, young Pine Tree." The oracle stated before continuing her story, "He went on to travel to other dimensions, learning how they lived and finding that in all of these words he was weak. He made his home in an unstable realm between the galaxies because that was the one place his powers could work perfectly and not just be a figment of someone's imagination. His end goal is to dominate the world and gain his physical form in the human world so that he can use his powers freely and enjoy the human feelings like pain and hunger and all that stuff at the same time. He responds to his emotions terribly, almost childlike. He doesn't know how to control his emotions and he doesn't want to. He prefers his emotions just like how he prefers the world: in utter chaos."

"How do I stop him?"

"No creature in the universe can stop him when he is able to use his powers, not even if all creatures in existence worked together to destroy him. The only creatures that could stop him were that of his own kind and they are gone."

"But the zodiac members can stop him!" Dipper protested, "The prophecy says that when the zodiac members work together by holding hands they can defeat him."

"I don't think you're putting two and two together, Pine Tree." An echoey voice sneered while laughing.

A disembodied Cheshire cat smile appeared in front of Dipper before closing its lips and revealing a giant cat eye. A yellow triangle quickly pieced itself around the eye followed by black arms and legs sprouting from the sides and bottom of the triangle. The last things to appear was a top hat and a glowing yellow cane.

"So we meet again, Bill Cipher." The oracle stated calmly but with a hint of disgust.

"Ma'am," Bill mockingly tipped his hat. "Telling the zodiac members riddles I see."

"Bill! You get out of here or I'll…" Dipper started his threat, raising his fists.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Bill warned, "In this realm I am powerless unless I am attacked first. You might want to keep your teenage hormones under control or else you might wake up in another dimension with a horse's butt as your face. That might be an improvement though."

"He is right, young Pine Tree." For a brief moment Dipper thought she was talking about the horse butt, "He is unable to use his powers to hurt you in this realm, but only as long as he is not attacked himself. Be at peace, young Pine Tree."

"Fine…" Dipper grumbled, still wanting to punch Bill in his triangular face.

"Don't get mad kid." Bill got to close to Dipper for his comfort, you're lucky to be alive, considering you're my one of my weaknesses. And as soon as I kill off one of you, none have any powers."

"No! You're the one who's lucky to be alive!" Dipper shouted, weaseling away from Bill. "As soon as I get home, I will get the rest of the Cipher zodiac together and get rid of you!"

"Ah the zodiac. Are you sure that's going to work kid?" Bill taunted, "I mean, according to that little tale the oracle just told…"

"Bill, I can read your mind. Don't say it." The oracle warned.

"I can only be destroyed by creatures like myself." Bill continued, completely ignoring the oracle. "But she also said that the members of the zodiac can defeat me. Both of these can't be right. Or can they? By that logic every member of the Cipher wheel would have to be creatures who are like me."

"I am nothing like you!" Dipper shouted, "Neither is my sister or my uncles or my friends!"

"Are you so sure about that, Pine Tree?" Bill eerily whispered, but his voice growing louder every word he spoke, "We're not that different Pine Tree. We are both powerful, misunderstood and have a gift of knowledge. We are both held back by our family and friends. We both just want more from life."

Bill flouted right in front of Dipper, towering over him. Bill cupped Dipper's face with his inky black hands and leaned in close.

"Like father like son I guess, my little Pine Tree."

Dipper quickly squirmed out of Bill's hands and as far away from him as possible.

"You're crazy!" Dipper shouted, "My father was Martin Pines and you started the fire that destroyed him! You're insane!"

Dipper looked at the oracle, almost asking if what he said was true. She just gave him a solemn look and nodded her head.

"Wow," Bill said, "For once i can use a 'moon battles' quote and really mean it. No, I am your father."

And with that, Dipper passed out again.

 **Authors note**

 **Yeah I know it has a similar plot to one of my other fan fics, the demon twins, but there is good reason. In this fan fic, all of the zodiac members are technically the children of Bill which would make them part dream demon which would give them the power to destroy Bill. In the demon twins, only Mabel and Dipper are Bill's children and in that one Mabel and Dipper will have stronger powers. There is a pretty good (and really disturbing reason) why Mabel and Dipper will not have strong powers in this fan fic and I'll explain it in the next chapter.**

 **The main difference between these two fan fics is what I'm writing them for. The demon twins is going to focus on redemption and forgiveness and Everything will be ok is focusing on how to overcome grief and accepting fate.**


	9. The Truth Comes Out

**Anger**

 **Chapter 8**

 **The Truth Comes Out**

 **Author's Note: As you can tell this story has finally gotten dark. The rating is now T because it finally dawned on me that the subject matter is a bit dark for children and very complex. So basically what Gravity Falls should be rated at. This story is rather personal with me. Dipper is facing anorexia and Mabel suffers from insomnia. There is a reason behind why I gave them these faults: I've faced them myself. I went through a huge loss in my life and it resulted in those conditions: not wanted to eat and unable to sleep. Thankfully, with help of my family, I was able to overcome those problems. This is a way to share my experiences and hopefully help other people who are going through the struggles I went through.**

 **Now onto our favorite twins.**

 **...**

Dipper handled the news of him being the son of an all powerful dream demon rather well.

"I hate you Bill!" Dipper hit a punching bag furiously with every word. "I will kill you somehow! I hate you world! I hate you universe! I hate you fate!"

As Dipper punched his feelings away in the basement, Ford learned from Stan that Dipper had ditched school that day.

"You let him do what?!" Ford asked, aghust.

"I let him stay home." Stan said as he opened a can of Pit cola, "He needed a day off and his grades are even higher than yours so I said sure. He'll be fine."

"But we've already allowed them to ditch school before." Ford said, trying to remain calm at his brothers complete ignorance. "We can't make a habit of this. It could cause problems when they're older and I will not have some crazy out of control teen ager as a nephew."

"He'll be fine." Stan said, leaning further back on his chair. "I ditched school all the time and look at me."

"You ended up a con man, Stanley."

"I like to think of myself as an expert in sales."

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose and felt the beings of a headache coming on.

"I'm going to go talk to him about this." Ford said as if he was preparing for battle. "I don't want this to become a habit with him. Do you know where he is?"

"Don't know. Might be in your nerd lab though. While you're done there, check out what's making that pounding sound. It's been driving me crazy all day."

Ford went down to the basement, furious at Dipper's behavior. He was trying to come up with the perfect plan of attack to make sure it never happened again but he was caught off guard and speechless when the elevator door opened to show Dipper furiously punching Stan's old punching bag.

"Dipper. What are you doing?" Ford had never seen Dipper use the ancient punching bag before and was confused why all of the sudden it seemed so appealing.

Dipper stopped punching the bag and just glared at Ford. Ford saw an unsettling fire in Dipper's eyes that terrified him for a number of reasons.

"How long have you known that Bill has returned?" Dipper said bitterly.

Ford was about to respond but Dipper interrupted him.

"How long have you known the truth about the members of the Zodiac." Dipper stated these things, not really asking questions. "Did you find out recently or did you learn about it long ago in your research. How long have you known that Stan's sacrifice was in vain? When were you going to tell me who I really am!"

Ford saw in Dipper's fiery eyes tears beginning to form but Dipper was holding them back.

"Dipper." Suddenly, Ford forgot the reason why he came down here in the first place and turned his attention to the ugly truth behind what had happened and what must be done. "We need to talk."

Ford motioned for Dipper to sit down with with on the couch. Dipper did so but choose to sit as far away from him as possible.

"How long have you known." Dipper asked.

"Ever since I learned about Bill." Ford replied, "How long have you known?"

"Bill came to me last night. There was this whole thing with the oracle." Dipper was trying to get his anger in check. "Why is it like this. How is this possible?"

"Dipper, the answer to that question isn't pretty."

"The truth never is."

Ford signed, wishing that his nephew/brother wasn't so smart.

"Dipper, do you remember the story of all those Greek gods?"

"Yeah. Of course. I read Perry Johnson, I know about Greek mythology. I'm not stupid."

"Well the greeks." Ford ignored his behavior. "Got there inspiration for those tales from Bill. Partially the origin story of Theseus."

"He had two biological fathers. One was a mortal and one was a god." Dipper stated, frustrated, "I know this story. The greeks didn't understand basic biology. There is no way a person can have two bio father's."

"Dipper. There is a way and we're living proof." Ford continued, "Bill was known, in greek times, as a god. A god who had power over the mind. They didn't draw his form because it gave him power: more eyes that he can see through. But there are stories of children, born to normal parents, who were incredibly powerful in strength, mind and magic. There was no explanation other than a god being one of there parents but things weren't adding up."

"You're not making any sense."

"Possession, Dipper." Ford stated, not really wanted to describe anything more that what he needed to. "Bill has the power to possess the minds and bodies of humans with only a handshake."

"Yeah I know. He's possessed me before."

Ford had yet to hear that story but decided he would ask Dipper about that later.

"Dipper." Ford was getting really uncomfortable at this point, "Bill was known to possess greek men and then use it as a tool to um... sleep with their wifes. Bill possessed your dad, Martin, and then controlled all of his actions. And he did the same for all of the Cipher Wheel."

Dipper just stared at his uncle for a while and tried to process the information without throwing up. He was unsuccessful and started gagging but was unable to throw anything up for some strange reason.

"Dipper?" Ford asked. "Are you alright."

"I'm fine." Dipper said trying to control his gag reflex.

Dipper continued to cough, his throat stinging with the stomach acid that had entered his throat.

"Let me get you water or something Dipper."

"No. I'm fine." Dipper said regaining breath.

"I don't believe you anymore. You told me that you were ok just this morning and you ditched school to just punch out your feelings."

"I am allowed to feel you know! I just learned that a demon possessed my dad and that resulted with me as a freak of nature! I'm sorry if my behavior isn't 'acceptable' right now but I just don't care at the moment. You have no idea how it feels!"

"Dipper. I had to go through the same realization as you did."

"Expect you were in your late 20's and probably found it on some cave wall. You were looking for answers. I was just asleep when Bill came to me and told me! It's not a great experience, I can tell you that!"

"Dipper. Calm down."

"Sure, I'll calm down. I'll forget anything ever happened today and we can go on living in ignorant bliss. I'll just pretend it's an endless summer. That my parents are **not** dead and that Bill Cipher **is** dead. Is that what you want me to do?"

"Dipper I just want you to be happy."

"How on earth can I be happy with this life!" Dipper was red with rage, "My parents are dead! I'm 25% Bill Cipher! And I can't even eat a bite without throwing up! My life sucks!"

Ford remained in silence. It was as if he too just woke up. He stared at one of the most important things in his life and was shocked at what he saw. Dipper's skin was tight around his bones, his face sunken in, his clothes hanging loosely off of his body and his face pale as chalk. A living skeleton.

"Dipper. When was the last time you ate."

"None of your business. If you really cared you would stay home and actually pay attention to me and Mabel instead of going off to your college classes that you took for no reason what so ever."

"Dipper. I know you're angry..."

"Hmmm… I thought I was doing a great job at hiding it."

"But you need to answer me now." Ford said, ignoring his comment, "When was the last time you were able to sit down at dinner and finish an entire meal."

Dipper didn't want to respond because of two things. Number 1: he felt no need to tell the uncle who hadn't told him about Bill's return, among other things, anything about himself. Number 2: Dipper didn't know the answer himself.

When was the last time he was able to actually sit down and enjoy a meal without either getting full after a few bites or throwing up all of it afterwards?

"Tell me now."

"I don't know ok?! I don't know anything anymore! Just leave me alone!"

Dipper bolted and Ford was unable to catch up with him. Dipper ran into Mabel as he was rushing out the door.

"Bro, Bro. Are you ok? I didn't see you at school."

"Mabel get out of my way. I'm going for a walk."

"You're acting angrier than usual."

"Mabel move."

"I'm just trying to say hi."

"Get out of my way."

"You don't need to get mad at me. I did nothing wrong."

"You're standing in the doorway and won't move. Now move."

Dipper pushed his body into Mabel's, trying to squeeze his way past his sister but she held firm.

"That's not a good enough reason to be mad at me. Tell me why you're mad. I did nothing to you so don't take it out on me." Mabel's face burned red in anger.

"Get out of my way!"

Dipper shoved Mabel out of the way, making her crash into the doorway, He bolted into the forest leaving Mabel inside the Mystery Shack, just rubbing her shoulder that was showing signs of becoming a large bruise.

Ford came upstairs to learn from his brother that Dipper had run off into the woods angry at Mabel and that Mabel was now hiding up in the attic angry at Dipper.


End file.
